Sales Jump at THQ

Video games publisher THQ(THQI) rode the coattails of popular animated hits such as Cars and SpongeBob SquarePants to post strong sales during the holiday quarter.

Sales increased 33% to $475.7 million, from $357.8 million a year ago, edging Thomson Financial expectations of $473.3 million.

Earnings rose to $62.1 million, or 91 cents a share, from $46.9 million, or 71 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding stock-based compensation expense, net income for the fiscal 2007 third quarter was $68.1 million, or $1 a share, beating analysts' expectations of 97 cents a share.

Shares of THQ were recently up 41 cents, or 1.3%, to $30.80.

"Our success was driven by our Disney/Pixar(DIS), WWE and Nickelodeon(NTDOY) franchises, as well as strong results for our intellectual properties, Saints Row and Company of Heroes," said Brian Farrell, president and CEO.

The animated Cars motion picture, made jointly by Disney and Pixar (now a unit of Disney), drove video-game sales for THQ and achieved the No. 2 overall console title ranking in the U.S. for calendar 2006, said THQ. The video game has now shipped more than seven million units.

Another hit for THQ was WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, which shipped nearly 4 million units, the company said. A THQ original game, Saints Row, shipped more than 1.3 million units.

For the year-to-date, seven of THQ's titles have shipped more than one million units, the company said.